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Official Code of Georgia Annotated

Title 17. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE · Chapter 5. SEARCHES AND SEIZURES · Article 4. INVESTIGATING SEXUAL ASSAULT

17-5-71. Preservation of evidence.

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Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.

  1. (a)

    In cases in which the victim reports an alleged sexual assault to law enforcement, the investigating law enforcement agency shall maintain any physical evidence collected as a result of an alleged sexual assault that contains biological material, including, but not limited to, stains, fluids, or hair samples that relate to the identity of the perpetrator of an alleged sexual assault, for 30 years from the date of arrest, or seven years from completion of sentence, whichever occurs last, and if no arrests, then for 50 years.#

  2. (b)

    If the victim chooses not to report the alleged sexual assault to law enforcement at the time of evidence collection, the law enforcement agency with jurisdiction shall maintain any physical evidence collected as a result of such alleged sexual assault that contains biological material, including, but not limited to, stains, fluids, or hair samples that relate to the identity of the perpetrator of the alleged sexual assault, for not less than 12 months from the date any such physical evidence is collected.#

The notes below are printed with the section but are not enacted law (O.C.G.A. § 1-1-1(c)). They are shown apart from the text.

History

Code 1981, § 17-5-71, enacted by Ga. L. 2008, p. 486, § 3/HB 1297; Ga. L. 2019, p. 721, § 1/HB 282; Ga. L. 2021, p. 567, § 3/HB 255.

Amendments

The 2021 amendment, effective July 1, 2021, substituted “victim chooses not to report the alleged sexual assault to law enforcement at the time of evidence collection, the law enforcement agency with jurisdiction” for “victim does not cooperate with law enforcement in the investigation or prosecution of an alleged sexual assault, the investigating law enforcement agency” near the beginning of subsection (b).

Editor's notes

Ga. L. 2021, p. 567, § 1/HB 255, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: “This Act shall be known and may be cited as the ‘Sexual Assault Reform Act of 2021.”’

Read the official page (the state's PDF, opened at the page this text was read from).

Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.

Text read from t17-(v15)-pdf.pdf, Volume V15, 2020 edition, 2025 supplement, page 34; merge action: replaced; file SHA-256 9ed85bfde942.